Carbohydrate Phosphorylation with Phosphoric Acid, Polyphosphoric Acid, Pyrophosphoric Acid, and Anhydrous Phosphoric Acid

Abstract

Pyrophosphoric acid was first reported as a phosphorylating agent for highmolecular weight alcohols in 1934¹. Direct phosphorylating of sugars and sugar derivatives was first carried out by Cherbuliez² who used polyphosphoric acid on alcohols, amines and glycols. These precedents suggested to Seegmiller and Horecker in 1951³ to try tetraphosphoric (polyphosphoric) acid, as supplied by commercs, as the phosphorylating agent of carbohydrate phosphorylation. Carbohydrates can be phosphorylated when all but one of the positions is blocked by suitable protective groups, or, on rare occasions, in the unblocked, “natural” stata.∗ The latter method can be used only on terminal, C₅ or C₆ positions as the 5-phosphates of pentoses and the 6-phosphates of hexoses are more stable at low pH than other phosphates and can withstand an acidic hydrolysis of the mixture of phosphorylated sugars resulting from such phosphorylation. For the phosphorylation of easily available, cheap pentoses and hexoses in the 5- and 6-positions respectively, with cheap polyphosphoric acid, this is the method of choice.